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Last week at the Stubbs Alderton & Markiles Preccelerator Program, we started to unpack what should be contained in the ideal marketing tech stack for startups.

As part of our primer on the fundamentals of marketing technology, we sought first to define the essential elements of the marketing tech stack for startups. With Scott Brinker’s Technology Marketing Landscape infographic as our backdrop, we dove into everything from CRM, email and automation to SEO, paid search, content creation, social media and more, all in the context of why these technologies are critical to a business’ success, including which tools to use at what stages and for what specific sales/marketing objectives.

Here are a few of our key takeaways from the session:

While no two companies are likely to have the exact same set of marketing technologies, the commonalities are the same: any tool or technology that can help identify, engage, convert and retain customers while allowing you to maximize your marketing and sales efforts can broadly be defined as being part of the “martech stack.”

Having the right martech stack can better facilitate marketing and sales alignment. Connecting marketing qualified leads with sales enablement tools can boost conversions and optimize funnel activity, which in the long term generates more cost-effective marketing programs to facilitate sales.

“Outbound marketing” places the focus on selling to an audience you already have, such as sending email to your list, in which you can track opens, website visits and what was being visited that will allow you to score leads and determine which are worth pursuing.

“Inbound marketing” focuses more on creating and promoting persona-driven content that will be attractive the the appropriate audience. As prospective customers find your company, inbound marketing helps companies to automate the process of nurturing a prospect from a website visitor into a paying customer using workflows to scale automated conversion funnels.

As a marketer, you don’t know which tool is the right one to use unless you’ve actually used it. You can’t recommend or even have others execute something without trying it and mastering it yourself. Martech systems are easy to move in and out of for testing, and CMOs who aren’t also experimenting simply won’t survive.

The wait is over, but not the debate. Today, U.S. Representatives Rick Boucher (VA-09), Chairman of the Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, and the Internet, and Cliff Stearns, Ranking Member of the Subcommittee, released a discussion draft of legislation to assure the privacy of information about individuals both on the Internet and offline.

Congress may never pass a law, but for now at least, it appears our collective industry efforts to educate House Engergy and Commerce Committee members has paid off. I was especially relieved to read this paragraph about a “carve-out” for ad networks, which speaks directly to the huge educational efforts put forth by the IAB, NAI and several competitors and colleagues alike over the past year:

The bill creates an exception to the opt-in consent requirement for third-party information sharing by applying opt-out consent to the sharing of an individual’s information with a third-party ad network if there is a clear, easy-to-find link to a webpage for the ad network that allows a person to edit his or her profile, and if he chooses, to opt out of having a profile, provided that the ad network does not share the individual’s information with anyone else.

Consumer privacy groups are not satisfied with the fact that the legislation, as currently drafted, would rely heavily on consumers privacy policies. Yet, it would require companies to allow consumers a higher degree of control over the collection and use of their data. This requirement would be burdensome to advertsing companies, but in the long run may yield higher performance for advertisers and a more relevant experience for consumers.

So it appears the online advertising industry dodged a bullet for now, but there is much more education and debate to unfold in the months ahead.

Preparing for an interview yesterday with a prominent Los Angeles business journal, I didn’t have to walk more than five feet from my office to get some great insight on the evolution of marketing in Los Angeles, reminding me once again what an amazing and experienced team of digital media professionals I get the pleasure of working with each day. The reporter was interested in my thoughts about why LA has increasingly become a hub for marketing companies in recent years, and my colleagues Matt Boyd and Brian Stone had plenty to add to my understanding of the topic. Thanks guys!

The short answer is that LA has always been a hub for marketing activity because it’s a major media market and home to the largest and most diverse creative community in the world. Digging a bit deeper, at least from a digital perspective, in the mid 9os, smaller marketing agencies were building out online advertising expertise that today is now dominated by large agencies like OMD, Initiative, Carat, Starcom and Mediavest — in many cases as a result of acquiring those smaller, more specialized shops.

Another reason marketing has found success here in recent years is that the Internet is no longer the exclusive domain of technologists, as was the case for the Silicon Valley during the dot-com boom years. The tools are now fully in the hands of creative and media professionals all over the world. Also, unlike the financial and tech focus of San Francisco, LA is home to some fairly recession proof industries, including entertainment, games and (at least compared to domestic manufacturers) some innovative foreign automotive brands.

Another thing LA has going for it is a thriving marketing community which frequently circles its wagons around the popular thinkLA organization. The Los Angeles Advertising Agencies Association, the Ad Club of Los Angeles and the Magazine Representatives Association merged to create thinkLA in 2006. Since then, it has successfully brought us together as an industry and I’m particularly impressed by its “Only in LA” campaign to promote Los Angeles as a center for creative thinking and innovation in marketing and media.

We’ll see how much of these thoughts make their way into an article and I will report back when it’s published next month.

Of what value is a good work ethic if it is not held in balance with a healthy lifestyle, quality relationships and putting family first? While I’m far from reaching such a balance, it doesn’t mean I don’t strive for it. I was reminded of the importance of downtime during our family vacation to Eau Claire, Wisconsin last week. It was one of the few times in my career I’ve taken 10 consecutive days off and the vacation served its purpose. Being [mostly] unplugged and away from the daily routine, made me more grateful than ever for family and close friends.

The highlight of our trip was distant cousins hitting it off as though they lived next door, followed closely by spending time with my sister and experiencing firsthand how she and her family live. Water skiing, a nighttime thunderstorm and seeing Night Ranger perform at the Northern Wisconsin State Fair were my personal highlights.

But a more salient point that stuck with me was something Don Grainger said as we sat on Lesley’s front porch. As he relayed a story about someone who taught him the importance of leaving one’s work at work, I was reminded of people I’ve known who appear to do that well, and more importantly how much I need to get into that good habit because ultimately it’s better for business and better for life.

That includes turning off the computer at a reasonable time and getting enough sleep, so with that I will take my own advice and head off to bed!

I have been looking for the appropriate context in which to post something about ValueClick Media. After all, it’s where I spend most of my waking hours and devote nearly all of my professional energy and expertise. After sending off our quarterly newsletter for advertisers, The Point, earlier today, it occurred to me that there is some great information about the best of what’s going on in our business today that the four readers of this blog might enjoy (yes, including you, Mom!). From a positioning update from our GM Bill Todd, to insights on how to maximize performance from one of our product managers, Adolfo Cortes (and everything in between), this is a good snapshot of what we’re communicating to our advertiser clients and just a few of the reasons I’m excited about working with the impressive group of online advertising professionals that make up the ValueClick Media team.